Marley didn’t seem to understand what Claudia had meant with some of her comments, but Holland thought they might. Passing privilege was a thing for some queer people in relationships that appeared straight to an outsider. Claudia’s logic followed: if you had the capacity to be in a relationship that didn’t come with stigma attached, why would you choose otherwise?

Holland’s mind automatically snapped to last night on the Quidditch Pitch. They could think of a few reasons, several of which had been very recently demonstrated but none of which would be useful in discussion with Claudia. It was, perhaps, socially easier to be in a universally-approved relationship. But the way things stood in the current moment, Holland thought it would be harder not to be with Danny, now that they were both aware of how they felt about each other, and spent most of their time around each other anyway. If the Lyras decided they wanted to stay together, then the social stigma would inevitably kick in, but Danny would be difficult to give up regardless of what they encountered. Suffice it to say that if last night was any indication (it might not turn into anything more—Holland was still cautious in case it didn’t—but what if it did?) then Holland didn’t think anyone’s lives were about to get any easier.

Marley sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “No, it’s okay. You’re right,” Holland said sympathetically, not entirely clear about which aspect of Marley’s monologue they were addressing. They were concerned about the Claudia development; Holland had known she was somewhat homophobic, but hearing that she had stormed off from a related conversation with Marley was a blow to their optimism. If she thought that Marley, who appeared to come from a more liberal family, was making her life harder by dating Teal… well, they would cross and/or burn that bridge if they came to it, Holland supposed.

Because Marley had suggested it, Holland tried to turn their attention back to the classwork. They used a spell to transfer the fingerprints from the jar to a spare sheet of paper in the binder, and set about comparing them. Most of them appeared to have come from Liam West, but there were a few partial prints that Holland was having difficulty matching. They might belong to the house-elf; her fingerprints looked very different than the humans’, and it was possible what Holland was interpreting as partial prints had been left by tiny house-elf fingers.

Their mind was still occupied with what Marley had said. “I think Claudia could be trying harder,” Holland agreed, after a long pause. Purebloods did have a conservative culture, but Holland had first-hand evidence that that could be overcome. They couldn’t say that Danny had always tried to understand things very nicely, but he had since first year. “Because I’m—uh—because of Danny. They’re from the same family, and he doesn’t have problems understanding queer relationships or attraction.” In fact he had taken all recent (or not-so-recent; fourth year was hardly recent, even if Danny hadn’t thought hard about that at the time) developments more in stride than Holland would have expected, if they were being honest.

Marley was, at first, a little reassured that they had responded with a “no”. Because she didn’t actually completely want to stop being friends with Claudia, and she didn’t want to feel bad for... more

There was a reason Marley liked confiding in Holland and just being around them so much. Well, okay, there were actually lots of reasons. They were super patient and understanding with all of her... more

“ But Danny’s old? ” Torn between affront and amusement, Holland stifled a wry laugh. They knew what Marley meant, even though neither of her suggestions seemed likely to hold water. Claudia was... more